Name: Patrons Project 32.01//Saint Croissants//Culinary Concepts 2.0//Emperor’s brewery//Imperial Banana Cronut Stout
Brewers: Northern Monk, Emperor’s Brewery (United Kingdom)
Style: Alternative Sugar Beer (Base Style: Imperial Stout)
ABV: 14%
Review Year: 2021
Revisiting one of the more memorable Pastry Stouts from 2021: Imperial Banana Cronut Stout by Northern Monk, in collaboration with Emperor’s Brewing and Saint Croissants, is a massively decadent pastry stout with additions of peanut, Biscoff, cacao nibs, and banana puree.
The Patrons Project is an initiative by Northern Monk to foster collaboration, creativity, and community between artists, athletes, and creatives across Northern England through curating beers that represent each chosen patron. The beers from the 32nd series are tributes to various culinary tastemakers.
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as an Alternative Sugar Beer (31B) with the Imperial Stout (20C) as the base style in the context of the 2015 Beer Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). The said guidelines were used since we reviewed this beer before 29 December 2021, the date of publishing of the 2021 update. The most current version can be found on the BJCP website.
TASTING NOTES
Opaque black with brown head. Moderately high pastry-inspired aromas greeted us: peanut butter, chocolate, and some ripe banana. Full-bodied, medium-low carbonation. Raisins and licorice were the most notable of flavors; banana was supportive. Low roasty cacao and peanut butter impressions rounded things up. Medium bitterness; moderately high sweetness. Imperial Banana Cronut Stout concluded with long and lingering impressions of ripe banana, cacao nibs, and some lychee.
THE VERDICT
Imperial Banana Cronut Stout lives up to its name with its…pastry-inspired aromas and flavors. It is a sweet beer meant to be shared with friends but there is something beyond the sweetness: mainly raisins, banana, and peanut butter. More bananas would be nice.
This one is definitely not for the Imperial Stout purists, but overall, Imperial Banana Cronut Stout is a very good take on this contemporary style.
Related Reviews:
Northern Monk
Emperor’s Brewery
Craft Beer From the UK
